Check Out These Amazing Hillary Clinton Gifs Made Special for Women of the Year

This year, Glamour's Women of the Year celebration took place right at the tail end of a tumultuous and, for many women, disappointing election season. Fortunately, that made the summit and awards in Los Angeles even more necessary—they became a way to rally around women, talk about our potential, and forge a path into the future.

Even so, we took a moment to celebrate Mrs. Hillary Rodham Clinton, for though she didn't become the first woman president, she made it a little bit easier for the woman who one day will.

At the end of the awards ceremony, tons of celebrities—from Tracee Ellis Ross to Lena Dunham to Elizabeth Banks to Adam Scott—took to the WOTY stage to thank Clinton for all of her incredible contributions to feminism and democracy. Heroic and humanizing paintings of Clinton flashed in the background as Jack Antonoff played some sweet acoustic guitar accompaniment, in what was a totally moving and cathartic tribute that paid beautiful homage to a woman who has done so much for all of us.

Getty Images for Glamour

Though we can't stop watching the video, now we also know how those amazing images in the background came to be. They were made by Meryl Rowin, an illustrator who creates bright and cheeky portraits, often of celebrities. Rowin told Glamour that it was Lena Dunham who reached out initially about making something for the Women of the Year tribute to Hillary Clinton. Obviously, Rowin said yes (we know we would).

"I wanted people to look at these three illustrations and remember Hillary’s achievements—her education, her 30-plus years of public service to our country, her family," Rowin told Glamour. "I feel these moments in her life are such an intrinsic part of her values and what she is fighting for: education, women's rights, civil rights." She said the portraits were meant to convey certain classically Hillary Clinton-esque qualities: "Her perseverance, her hope, her character. She's a real mensch, you know?"

Meryl Rowin

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Creating the gifs ended up being cathartic for Rowin after Trump's, um, surprising victory. "I spent the next day and a half in sweatpants and a kimono, mostly sitting in front of my computer feeling stressed, sad, bummed about humanity and the angry people in our country—the lack of empathy and compassion—[and] worrying about the health of our planet and anti-semitism and racism and misogyny," she said. "Then I scratched my dog's belly and told him he was a very smart, good boy for about an hour (he is). Then I acknowledged that this is where we are at: It means we have to work harder to have our voices heard, to keep these issues alive, and fight for what we believe is right on climate change, women's rights, education, the court system, and immigration. It won't be good, but it certainly won't be the end."

She added, "Oh, and then I met a friend for cake."

Meryl Rowin

In addition to some freelancing work, Rowin said that she's been contemplating a book idea for awhile: "Hopefully something to inspire and keep our activism alive through these next four years and beyond," she explained. And then she added, "But my dog may need a lot of belly scratches, so we'll see."